Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I have resorted to using Install-VMHostPatch for now. One limitation there is that there is no equivalent uinstall like a vib.remove .. So if I try the vib.remove I see the following error -- which leads me to believe that the powerCLI functionality has not been plumbed properly to the actual esxcli functionality ..
PowerCLI C:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\vSphere PowerCLI> (Get-EsxCli -V
MHost mesx3.xxx.yyy.com).software.vib.remove($true,$true,$true,$true,"
test-vib")
Missing required parameter --vibname
At line:1 char:69
+ (Get-EsxCli -VMHost mesx3.xxx.yyy.com).software.vib.remove <<<< ($t
rue,$true,$true,$true,"test-vib")
+ CategoryInfo : InvalidOperation: (:) [], RuntimeException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : MethodInvocationExceptioncyclnane01 291 >
Looks like the vibname is not even getting passed to the invocation ..